Review: Antipodean Cafe @ Bangsar

**Non-Halal**


When I read Antipodean Cafe's website...

Antipodean - pronounced "an·tip·o·de·an" (adj)means (1) coming from or relating to Australia or New Zealand (2) Ancient Greek: anti "opposed" pous "foot" opposite points on the globe.

... there's this quote in there so no wonder as I walked into the cafe in Bangsar, I couldn't help it but to feel that I was back in Sydney or Melbourne during our holidays. The signature blackboard wall with every single items of the menu single handedly written on is the dead giveaway. It's very fashionable in Melbourne, we noticed. It's a nice feature wall except that it's not so friendly for indecisive person like me *ahem* yes... this is Capt'n Hook's main problem with me lol. Since the blackboard wall IS the only menu available, you'll have to stand, walk up and down staring at the wall deciding what to have. Not very polite eh... when you have diners sitting next to this wall and it's not easy when they have rather an extensive list of items available. Sorry no pics of the interior as I was trying to save some batt on the camera that was already flashing low batt warning :(

This cafe specialised in everything made in-house from sourcing their coffee beans, roasting, grinding, brewing your cup of coffee, right down to cooking and baking. They market their own brand of coffee under Lava Coffee and Merdeka Coffee where you can make your purchases online or on the locations stated in the websites. (I've tried to check Merdeka Coffee link but my browser disallowed me to as it warned that the site contained malware so I'm not sure what's the difference between Merdeka Coffee and Lava Coffee).

Since Capt'n Hook had a lunch appointment with someone, so it was just BoiBoi and I having lunch here. Boi Boi asked for his favourite Fresh Mango Juice (RM9.00) and I really mean fresh here! As seen on this pic, the straw sits right in the middle of the drink cos only freshly "squeezed" mango juice allowed that to happen! My ex-colleague taught me this when we were dining at the old Shangri-La Kuala Lumpur's coffee house :D where the heavy glass stirrer could sit right in the middle of the juice.

My Mango Lassi (RM10.00) is not bad either and it's thick as well. 

The kid, as usual, would have his burger fix and so Beef Burger would be it! He asked for cheese to be added (no cheese RM20, with cheese RM25 and you can add bacon if you want, of course with additional $). The patty is not of the thick kind like Bee Cafe but substantial enough to fit onto the sesame bun. Commendable is the portion of green salad is healthy with some thick fries. We both loved the brie slices that is almost melting onto the patty.

The indecisiveness me after going through the mind-boggling menu... came down to this Open Bacon, Rocket, Lettuce, Tomato on Sour Dough Bread (RM18.00). Gosh, I loved this slightly upmarket rendition of BLT sandwich!!! Beneath the many slices of back bacon (I love this cut btw cos it's less fatty) laid 2 slices of chewy sour dough bread, a few slices of lettuce, tomatoes and a heapful of (expensive) rocket (arugula) leaves!!! BoiBoi couldn't resist and ask me for a piece of bacon to be added to his burger. I liked how the flavour and slight bitterness of the arugula melded in with the rest of the family ;-). I will definitely order this again.

BoiBoi likes to end his meal with a dessert and he looked at the dessert menu plus the bar area where they have kept some of the desserts and ended up picking an Apple Pie (RM8.00). This pie is not the finest of an apple pie. The pastry is not of the crumbly kind... rather dense I would say and the apples were cooked down to almost a mash. My personal preference would be flaky pastry with chunks of apples. Perhaps I have a high expectation since I can bake a rather nice pie myself (yikes, I did not post up my Apple Pie recipe but I do have an Apple Crumble recipe with a pastry base).



Our total bill came up to RM77.00 which includes a 10% service charge. Capt'n Hook commented it was a rather pricy meal for an adult and a kid but he just doesn't know how good the open sandwich was! We will drag him here one day, definitely... and yes, make him pay for it!


Antipodean Cafe

20 Jalan Telawi 2, 

Bangsar Baru, 

Kuala Lumpur

Tel: (+603) 2282 0411

Opening hours: 

Sun - Thu 8.00am - 10.00pm

Fri - Sat 8.00am - 11.00pm

Menara Tan & Tan, Ground Floor, 

207 Jalan Tun Razak, 

Kuala Lumpur

Mon - Fri 7.30am - 7.00pm

Sat 7.30am - 6.00pm

Sun 7.30am - 5.00pm